Liberation Pathways is physically located in the ancestral lands of Yoncalla, Kalapuyans, the Southern Molalla, the Upper Umpqua, the Cow Creek Umpqua, and the Quuich, or Lower Umpqua.

The people of the Umpqua River Basin lived peacefully with one another, not claiming land or territory. They all spoke different languages. They subsisted from fishing, game hunting, and foraging on the abundant lands. When the settlers came, they allowed them in and many befriended the White settlers, as in the case of the Yoncalla, building relationships with them and helping them on their homesteads.

Colonization took hold of the area when the Hudson Bay Company established a fur trading outpost – Fort Umpqua – which became the town now known as Elkton. This trading post became a hub of activity and commerce that made the fort a desirable stopping place for travelers. Eventually, the growing populations of settlers, claiming land for agriculture and logging, depleted food sources for the tribes of the Basin. With food scarcity and without understanding the concept of land ownership or the practice of not sharing large bounties of food with those who did not have any, some of the native people began to take from the settlers, who already perceived them to be inferior, uncivilized, and lawless. These original peoples did not understand why the White settlers viewed them with such disdain, why they pushed them out the lands, and why they did not openly share their bounty.

During the Rogue River Wars, removal of Indian populations gained momentum in an effort to eliminate the recruitment of men to fight on the side of the Rogue River confederacy. Forced removal of Natives began with the creation of the Umpqua Reservation in 1853. The Cow Creek Reservation was established in 1854 and a third reservation, The Umpqua Reservation of the Coast, in 1856. By 1856 the Umpqua River basin was depopulated of its native peoples, except for a few families that managed to stay and work for White settlers.

Not having access to their traditional methods of obtaining sustenance, people in many reservations were forced to receive sustenance provided by the U.S. government or adopt the agricultural lifestyle of the White settlers – their ways of existing sustainably with the land for thousands of years were completely disrupted. The peoples in the coastal reservations still had access to traditional ways for sustenance. In 1856, White militant groups, determined to exterminate all native people, consistently attacked Indian reservations.

One of the reservations targeted was the Umpqua Reservation and its people, many who had already attempted to establish themselves by growing crops and owning livestock, were forced to take a 23-day journey in the harsh Oregon winter without proper attire, to the Grand Ronde Reservation in the Yamhill valley. Five people are said to have died on this journey, including children. Other Oregon tribes were forced to move to the Grand Ronde reservation in the following years. White settler attacks on Grand Ronde continued and armed men were recruited to defend the reservation. Eventually, a fence was built around the reservation for protection.

At Liberation Pathways we are grateful to dwell in the ancestral lands of our indigenous neighbors and hope to do so with honor and respect. We support indigenous resistance and legal pathways to the restoration of rights and lands to the rightful stewards.